Load carriers of the type described above are common. These include those described in the applicant's application SE 9302881-9, as well as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,401 and WO 01/38141. The disadvantage of these earlier load carriers, however, is that they afford a loaded bicycle insufficient support to prevent it from falling before the claw grip is securely attached to the frame. This requires the person loading the bicycle to use one arm to ensure that the bicycle does not fall, with the result that only one arm is free to attach the claw grip to the frame, which can be very difficult, especially when the claw grip itself requires several actions to attach it securely. In WO 02/18177, this has been solved by providing the rail section in the area of the front wheel of the bicycle with a trough, in which the wheel is placed, providing the bicycle with sufficient stability to remain upright in the rail section without support other than that provided by the trough. The disadvantage of this solution, however, is that between different bicycles, their wheels often have varying wheel width; therefore, it may easily happen that a bicycle wheel does not fit in the trough because the wheel is too wide or that the bicycle is not afforded support because the wheel is too narrow.
A further disadvantage of earlier load carriers is that the bicycle wheels may easily be placed outside the rail section when loading the bicycle on the load carrier, since the rail section is narrow, and when the bicycle is difficult to lift onto the load carrier when the latter is mounted on a vehicle roof. This disadvantage is especially noticeable when the person lifting the bicycle is slight in either stature or strength, which is often the case when the person lifting the bicycle is a child or a woman.
Yet another disadvantage of earlier devices is that the claw grip is so arranged that it must be adjusted to the open position by the user before it can be attached to the bicycle frame, which may easily present the user with problems if he forgets to adjust the device to the open position before placing the bicycle on the load carrier. Thus, previously known load carriers suffer from a large number of disadvantages which make it difficult, and sometimes impossible, to load a bicycle onto them without damage to the vehicle on which the load carrier is mounted when the person loading the bicycle is not sufficiently tall relative to the vehicle or possesses insufficient bodily strength.
In view thereof, there exists a need for a load carrier of such design that it affords a solution which overcomes the disadvantages of previously known load carriers and on which it is easy to load a bicycle.